UPDATED: Colchuck Lake (almost!)

October 5, 2013

Andy and I were lucky to have our engagement photos taken by the lovely and talented Miss Jen Au (check out her blogs here and here). I am a huge fan of her photography not only because we're friends, but because they make me want to cry - so beautiful.

It turned out to be an ordeal picking the location. Somewhere with larches? Okay, Lake Ingalls. On Thursday night a trip report appeared warning of waist deep snow and snowshoes recommended. Dang it! Change of plans - Colchuck and Stuart Lake. Jen suggested pictures at sunset, so we left Mill Creek around 12:45pm and arrived at the trailhead around 3:00pm. Wow, late start. We decided to head to Colchuck only. For some reason, I didn't think we'd be taking pictures during the hike. Luckily I wore a cute hiking shirt. We encountered only a little bit of snow and it ended up being a very nice day. Because we stopped several times to take pictures along the trail, at 5:45 pm we still had about an hour of hiking left to get to the lake. The sun was setting quickly so we backtracked to a nice spot and took pictures with the sunset in our fancy clothes. Andy dearest set up the tent for me to change in <3. It was a fun experience. I found out I have very poor posture. I'm also very awkward, but hey, I already knew this. We've also never hiked at night before. Although Jen took a pretty hard fall (damn roots) and we ended up having to backtrack out of the horse trail, it wasn't horrible and it's totally worth pictures at sunset. Just need to make sure the hike down isn't too difficult. We got our pictures in about a month ago. Take a look-see:

Rainier - Glacier Vista Snowshoe

January 4, 2014

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I cannot believe we have not been on a hike since late October. Lame-o.

I'm quite certain all us hiker folk checked the weather forecast for this past weekend and thought "I must get to the great outdoors". Seriously, could we have asked for better weather?? We left Mill Creek at 7:30 am and arrived at the Mount Rainier National Park gate/toll booth where we were able to purchase an interagency annual pass. Due to icy conditions, chains were required for all 2WD vehicles. All 4WD vehicles just needed to have chains in the car. The drive up to the lot was well paved and slightly icy with a light dusting of snow. Watch out for those snow plows, though. They are wide and are not afraid to come barreling down the hill right at you. We arrived at the Paradise Lodge parking area at 10:45 am. The lot was about half to 3/4 full with staff directing parking.

As we were strapping on our snowshoes, the nice ranger lady advised us to reconsider going up to Panorama Point due to moderate avalanche danger. Okay, we would evaluate once we got there. Did I mention this was our first time snowshoeing EVER? Well, it was. And it was so freakin' fun!!! Loved it. Andy and I are thinking of a snowshoe overnight in the near future. If you're wondering, you cannot camp at Paradise in the winter until there is at least 5 feet of snow. There was, however, plenty of snow for snowshoeing and some people were even skiing. Others were wearing sneakers (which I would not recommend).

Needless to say, we saw and met many people. Andy, Crystal and I ended up stopping for lunch along Alta Vista (?). Glacier Vista was quite crowded, but along Alta Vista you could see both Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens on this clear and sunny day.

I wanted to go up there for lunch.

Andy snowshoeing along Alta Vista (I believe). It was icy, but not a problem with our shoes. Also, don't forget your sunglasses. Also, look at the cool cloud! It was so flat and round and barely moved the whole time we were up there. It was like a spaceship (because I know what spaceships look like)!

View of Rainier from our lunch spot.
During lunch, there were several powerful gusts of wind. You could see the snow flying off of Rainier and showering the people climbing up to Panorama Point. In the photo below, I was able to count about 33 people attempting the climb up. Apparently you are able to see down to Oregon and spot Mt. Hood from there. Awesome!

Sadly, we did not make the climb up to Panorama Point :( No worries, I had a wonderful first time snowshoeing. This is us in front of Mt. Rainier:

Hello! I know, I got my hair chopped off. Ya dig?

The Mountain.

Until next time~

The Enchantments - Lake Viviane and Leprechaun Lake

October 26-27, 2013

At long last!!! We made it up to the Enchantments. An overnight trip is not nearly enough time to enjoy the splendor, but we took what we could get especially with this dry weather pattern.

Having only one car and hearing that Aasgard was dicey on the descent down, we opted for the Nada/Snow Lakes trailhead route to the Enchantments. We hiked to Nada Lake last year (post here) but at that time in May there was still too much snow to make it much farther than that. This time the weather was perfect and the climb up was just as grueling. Actually, much more so because we went farther. We were pretty much on our hands and knees most of the time past Snow Lakes for the climb up. Andy's fingertips look like I gnawed on them they were so raw (wear gloves on your way down). Part of the fun of the hike is looking for cairns and getting lost when you don't pay attention. A lot of the times when I was exhausted I would see a cairn and think, "Phew, we're on track. Others have been here and have gone through the same thing. I can do it! Mind on the prize!!!"

There are several sections along the rocks where there is rebar/concrete or areas where explosives were used to create steps and traction to help you up (below).

This hike is the bee's knees. I hope next year we can get a permit or do what we did this year for two nights at a minimum. Here are some photos from the journey:

Nada Lake behind me. Lake level was very low so there was a high point splitting the lake in two.

Upper Snow Lake. Low lake level, log jams, and nice group campsites. Prusik Peak in the background.

This dam separates upper and lower lakes. During snow melt water cascades over so you must be careful crossing to the other side.

Heading past Snow Lake...

But not before filtering more water for the final leg up.


What's left of the larches. Starting to brown and many needles on the ground, but still beautiful!


Lake Viviane in all her glory


Leprechaun Lake


Leprechaun Lake about 9.5 miles in. We hiked up a big rock to the highest.. 2nd highest point in the basin and set up our tent freestanding on the rocks. It was a sweet spot.


Andy placed rocks by the tent to make sure it did not slide off the cliff. We were pretty much set up right on the edge but it was such a nice spot!


Waiting for the stars. Andy is taking a 360° picture with his phone.


There were two groups camped out in the lower basin (left and center photos). Andy accidently caught them in the center photo at the very lower left edge of the photo. We ended up giving one of them a ride to the Colchuck TH. That's our tent in the right photo.

It got so windy at night that we had to hold our tent up with our hands to keep it from smacking us in the face. Andy went outside to try to prop it up with the trekking poles, but with the tent set up freestanding on the rocks it did not work well. We had to move to a more sheltered area just a few yards down to the left. We were able to stake the tent down and have the trekking poles for support. Our Tarptent held up very well and we were able to fall asleep. When we asked the group down at the basin how their night was, it was just as windy.


Good morning!


This was the new location of the tent.


It started snowing as we were packing up and the snow picked up on our hike down. There was close to 1/2" accumulation when we took this picture. By the time we reached Nada the snow had stopped and the rest of the hike down was dry.
It was surprising that there were very few cars at both Nada and Colchuck trailheads on Sunday afternoon.

West Fork Foss to Copper River

September 28, 2013

First of all, props to all the trail volunteers! This hike is so nice due in much part to all the work that has been put in to the bridges, stairs, etc. Awesome! :D

While the forecast warned of up to 1" of rain and wind gusts of up to 40 mph, we still got out of bed and made it out of the apartment by 9:30 am on the grey and soggy Saturday morning for a hike at West Fork Foss River with the intent of staying the night at Big Heart Lake. It's only about an hour and a half drive from Mill Creek and about 10 miles from Stevens Pass, so Slurmz didn't even have to chug up the mountain. Foss River Road is nice and paved in the beginning. We had to dodge some potholes, but nothing bad. Just before the trailhead you must drive through a quick flowing stream. I was scared to drive through it - I mean, what if we got swept down the river?! - but Andy said go for it. I don't know what the correct term for that was because it certainly looked like the driveway was designed a certain way for the water to flow and for one to drive over it safely but it looked like an overflowing culvert to me.

There was one car at the trailhead. In fact, they set up camp next to their car. At first I though that was strange, but then I looked at the entrance to the trail and there was caution tape and plastic covering the signboard. I thought the trail was closed not only because of the plastic and tape, but because the garbage receptacles and restrooms were locked. Upon further inspection, however, there was only caution tape around some blow downs so we were good to go! Still not sure why there was plastic covering the board. Also, the check in box for permits was no where to be seen, however, so make sure your family and/or friends know of your plans before you head in.

Clad in our (unintentional) matching rain gear the two of us hiked in the steady, moderate to heavy rain for about two hours. We passed by lovely Trout Lake, heard some pikas and birdies, and saw some awesome waterfalls all around near and far.

Twinsies!

Trout Lake
By the time we reached Copper Lake, I was exhausted like I had been all week at home. Andy decided it would be best to set up camp here and we found the only decent campsite that was not flooded. It was super windy and gusty but luckily the rain stopped in time for us to pitch our tent and eat our sandwiches. Yeah, we brought sandwiches instead of bringing a stove to warm food up. We might try this next trip, too, especially since we've been only doing overnights. While eating, I started shivering and my fingers turned into sausages and I was just so miserably cold AND it started raining again. Looking up, the giant trees around us were swaying all over the place. With all these factors combined and wind gusts of up to 60 mph, we decided it would be best to pack up and head home. The four guys who came in just as we were leaving were fortunate that we came to this decision otherwise I don't think they would have had anywhere to camp! It was a good trip. We put our waterproof/resistant clothing to the test under 4 hours of hiking in the rain. Everything held up great. And we also found out that hiking in the rain does not suck. It's actually quite enjoyable. I still need to find a way to stay warm. Maybe I should just constantly be doing jumping jacks.

Water on trail

So many distant waterfalls

That waterfall is Copper Lake's outlet. It sure felt like a long, steady climb up to the lake.

Wouldn't you know? We didn't end up taking any pictures at the lake.

Lake Valhalla & Lake Janus

September 14 - 15, 2013

Andy and I were itching to go hiking all week. Stumbled upon Lake Valhalla so decided to go there. The trail head is literally across from Steven's Pass so it was a quick and easy drive. Started our hike at 10 am and got up to the lake by 12:30 pm. It was a pretty easy one and we could not have asked for nicer weather. We were debating whether to go another 4.3 miles to Lake Janus to set up camp there since Lake Valhalla was so busy, but I decided we found a nice spot just above the lake so we stayed put. Let me tell you, there were a lot of new parents with their babies, lots of adorable doggies, and just a good amount of hikers in general. After having lunch with some bees and splashing in the water, we headed out on an ~8.5 mile day hike to Lake Janus. Again, there was quite a bit of stock manure and quite possibly bear scat but we did not encounter any bears. Lake Janus is lovely - serene and secluded with nice meadows surrounding it and some floating lily pads. The sandy shore at Valhalla is definitely much nicer, but if you wanted to be alone Janus would be the place to stay. After snapping a few photos Andy and I made our way back to camp just in time for dinner. We rehydrated up some delicious homemade chili mac and reflected on our total 14.5 mile day hike. I believe that's the most mileage we have done in one day. We were also hiking at a good pace that day.
You know what is also cool? We got to chat with a couple solo PCT thru-hikers on Saturday. One of them had a late start in May (people usually begin in April)and had just about 10 days left before he would make it to Canada and another hiker was doing the hike in reverse - heading to S. Cali or as far as he could get. Andy and my long-term/life's goal is to hike the PCT in one go. I asked my boss once if I could take six months off to hike the PCT to which he replied, "Sure, as long as you take the days off on the weekends."

Here are some of our lovely photos:

Lots of mushrooms growing on this trail. This one was cool - reminds me of "1-up" mushrooms in Mario Bros.

Beautiful meadows - perfect for stock animals to graze.

Lake Valhalla and Lichtenberg Mountain.

Campsite

Andy bought us a cool new stove.

Cooling off in the water. Those are Andy's legs - he was doing a handstand but started sinking. You can also see the nice sandy shore in the foreground.

I love Andy!

Stopped for a photo on the way to Lake Janus. Lake Valhalla behind us.

Lake Janus was so nice.

Perfecting the night time pictures.

Caught a shooting start at 4 am.

Morning hike out.